The Death of Bunny Munro

by Nick Cave

Bunny Munro is a monster - just how much of a monster we find out slowly as the story progresses. I was shocked and horrified by the gradual revelations of his behaviour and his callous treatment of his family and yet I ended up feeling real sympathy for him - and couldn't help laughing at the outrageous and very black humour.

Extract

'I am damned,' thinks Bunny Munro in a sudden moment of self-awareness reserved for those who are soon to die. He feels that somewhere down the line he has made a grave mistake, but this realisation passes in a dreadful heartbeat, and is gone - leaving him in a room at the Grenville Hotel, in his underwear, with nothing but himself and his appetites. He closes his eyes and pictures a random vagina, then sits on the edge of the hotel bed and, in slow motion, leans back against the quilted headboard.